Emma Thompson reflects on family gatherings as she releases new movie Last Chance Harvey with Dustin Hoffman

She turned 50 back in April and Emma Thompson has decided to give herself a very special belated birthday present.

She turned 50 back in April and Emma Thompson has decided to give herself a very special belated birthday present. Once she has finished filming the sequel to Nanny McPhee, the Oscar-winning actress will take a year off.

"It is a big milestone," she admits. "My very great friend the actor Derek Jacobi recently turned 70 and I said, 'What was that like compared to 50 or 60?' He said, 'It's very different. At 50 you can do whatever you want, at 60 you kind of have to do what you're doing, but at 70 you have no choices left'.

"So with a view to making the right choices, I'm taking a year off. That's my birthday present to myself. I'm not going to act, write or anything like that. I'll be a mum, teach drama at my daughter's school, cook meals, have fun and go out with my friends. I'll go to movies and not think about working. I'll see what bubbles up after that."

It's a brave step in an industry that views actresses as being over the hill at 30, and where looks and beauty are held in greater store than talent. But Emma has always played the game her own way.

Today sees the release of the romantic comedy Last Chance Harvey in which she stars alongside the legendary Dustin Hoffman. Set during a wedding, it provides lots of laughs. But Emma - who is happily married to actor Greg Wise, 43 - admits real weddings are usually rather fraught affairs.

"They are very difficult," she says. "I have never known a wedding where the bride and the groom aren't sitting there fretting about who's been invited and who hasn't.

"Funerals are not necessarily depressing. I have been to a lot and generally they are more cheerful than weddings. I mean it! Funerals can be really fantastic as people who have not seen each other for a long time come together.

"I was at a wonderful funeral for my father-in-law. The only sad thing was that he wasn't there. I said to Greg, 'Isn't it a shame we didn't have this party before he died because it has been so joyful?'"